In the basement of the apartment building, Bit was taking on that most important of roles: supervising. “Xavier, if you will lower those components another inch, it will match the designs I have within my systems. Greninja, Roa, if you can locate the blueprints again, it will be most helpful.”

Once again, if you knew where to look, you could see a slight smile in the Porygon-Z’s eyes. He was in fact thoroughly enjoying this.

Xavier moved the pieces just as Bit commanded, an interested look in his glaring eyes could be seen as well, although not as euphoric as Bit’s.

“I see you did take some time to put this up, is this system going to be patented in the near future?” asked the shiny Pokemon as Greninja kept the blueprints in sight with a steady hand, Roa on her end wasn’t faring as well as her arms constantly shaking.

“I-is this alright herr Bit?” asked the Zoroark timidly.

“That is fine, Roa. If you and Greninja will observe, Vincent and I drew up plans to install a new system of ventilation through the building so that the cool air this unit will produce can easily be moved around as required. I need you two to go to the places marked on the blueprints and begin installing these vents, along with the preliminary wiring.”

Bit’s beak then began to glow as he moved his head into the unit, to where the components touched the containing wall. “Charge Beam, focused mode. I believe the humans called this technique ‘arc welding.’”

With no more warning, the Porygon-Z began to fuse component and container with nothing more than raw electrical power.

“But why building a whole new system for the building when you could have used the original ventilation?” asked Xavier with curiosity as he looked at the positions Bit was mentioning on the blueprints. “Using the old one would also prove to be cheaper.”

Bit somehow replied while keeping his head focused. “Because linking the two systems would not be a good idea if a Fire-type were to be helping with the heating while an Ice-Type was helping with the air-conditioning. Keeping them separate minimizes the chances for anything to happen. It may be expensive, but it works.”

“Ingenious.” Admitted Xavier. “This will be a truly organic, self sustainable building. Something not even we had back home. But I find strange most equines have left their apartments so abruptly only because of the upcoming World Summit. Did something happen here to move them like that?”

“There was the event with PegasusAir. The manager of the shipping company was not, how to say...completely clean. She imported and exported everything. Everything. I stumbled across one of their money laundering operations in a casino, and that set them off. They desired to be rid of Pokemon in this city...and we took her down. Next part please.”

The story was abruptly interrupted by the program Pokemon requesting the next component for the air conditioning unit. “Here,” Xavier replied as he held the piece with his psychic grip. “I understand this Pegasus Air way of operations, but I do not see what does this have to do with the current state of Ponies towards Pokemon.”

“Thank you. Resuming Charge Beam.” The glow from within the unit resumed as the program picked the tale back up.

“Well, she employed a Trio to strike at us, me specifically. And one of their tactics was to have the newspapers print ‘disinformation.’ Attack stories on Pokemon. Apparently, they sell well, and the ponies see no reason to stop disliking us. Until we prove that we’re here to stay, and that we can offer so much more if we work together, do I think they will cease this senseless hatred. I think that’s done. Give it a minute to cool, and then we can install the cover over it. Where is the cover?”

The Metagross gave Bit the piece he was asking for as he give his point of view, “Control over information can win wars, definitely the head of this mob was somepony… did I just said that?” asked the Pokemon before continuing, “that it was a quite brilliant pony. The mere fact of the lasting results of the events you just described are proof enough of how right she was. Evil and greedy, but still quite brilliant. Hard to believe she would make such a mistake as to openly attack all Pokemon on sight.”

“She didn’t,” Bit said as he wedged the cover mostly into place. “But the gangs and the ones she employed did. They were greedier. She offered them fifty bits for every Pokemon they knocked out and brought to her to be ‘exported’ from the city. They snapped it up, and made the mistake of going for Sam. You don’t hurt a member of the family of Nurem.”

Bit’s eyes briefly flashed red as the concentric black rings were momentarily connected by a set of cross-hairs. “You never hurt a member of the Nurem family.”

“So I heard.” half joked Xavier. “So this boss is a female, intriguing. It appears this world posses a strong favor over females in contrast to our more masculine world. I wonder if these cultural phenomena will clash with one another at one point or if they will mix in the future.”

He give another thought and added, “I wonder if that would ever influence physically asexual creatures such as ourselves.”

Bit gave off his best attempt at a shrug. “No idea. Extrapolating on the future is pointless...until Vincent learns Future Sight, anyways. Or until an audience with Dialga is something that is easily granted.”

The program then turned back to the device they were working on and nodded. “Resume Charge Beam.”

As he welded the cover for the more delicate pieces into place, the program then asked a question of Xavier. “Information requested. What have you and the various members of Checkmate who accompanied you here today been up to since our last meeting?”

“Same thing of before, looking for this being who seems to be scheming something evil.” The tone Xavier was using didn’t show any kind of excitement or interest, in fact he seemed bored. “Is nothing we haven’t done before so there is little to say. We are in this situation because Daring Do is currently our employer.”

Xavier was silent for a moment before continuing.

“As a matter of fact, we are supposed to be contracted by the Griffin Empire, but we decided to help Daring on her little search mostly because we needed to go and find the rest of our team. So far we have found three of them since we left Griffenhiem.”

“I…” For a moment, Bit thought he heard actual emotion in Xavier's voice. “I must admit thought, it has been thanks to her than we became able to travel around these new lands and meet so many new persons. And I mean persons who don’t want us dead. Is quite a heavy change.”

Bit was silent for a moment as he considered the words of the Metagross. Eventually, he found something for the situation.

“As has been said before...This is a new world. The views, laws...and even morals from back on Earth...need not apply if you do not wish them to. Granted, re-inventing one’s self is no easy task. But it is one that both of our families apparently need to take up.”

The program fell silent as he continued the welding. Xavier again was silent for a moment before something unusual, he laughed, wholeheartedly.

“I must admit your knowledge little program. Even when I am supposed to be smarter, your mere and simple line of reasoning has few failures in it to argue against.”

He stopped to laugh and continued with his normal tone.

“Re-inventing myself huh? That is something I have done before, many times. I presume that is true to you and to most machine-like Pokemon. So can I, I’m not afraid of changing one more time. No, what intrigues me about this new world is how will it change my comrades. So far we have met one member who had been quite determined about her quitting the team.”

“She was in her right to do so, so we had no reason to stop her, although that didn’t stop Simon giving her a piece of his mind though. This facts are irrelevant as of now, but eventually all of my comrades will start to think about their position on this world and if they want to re-invent themselves. That is a thought I found intriguing, while my boss found it terrifying.”

“Vincent was ecstatic,” Bit mused as he pulled back from the unit, nodding once at his work. “Mainly because it meant he was no longer on Earth. Most humans seem to think that their ‘self’ is sacrosanct, that it must not be defiled or altered in any way. If Weiss is like that, I propose another ‘simple’ line of thinking.”

The program was smug as he recited another phrase to Xavier. “We all of us change every day in little ways. It is the process of growing and becoming a wiser, better individual. Change doesn’t have to be something that terrifies you. It can just as easily be for the better.”

“Is not that kind of change what scares him.” Xavier replied with his monotone, “but the fact of losing what he consider a family for years. I presume that even your brother would be scared of such idea.”

The Metagross lifted up the blueprints and asked, “Where next?”

Bit dinged as he looked the blueprints over. “Next, we would need to install the auxiliary refrigeration units. I believe they’re the large, clunky objects that were left on the cart.”

As the items in question were pointed out, the Porygon-Z sighed. “And you are far more correct than you know. I dread to imagine what would have happened had Vincent woken up alone in that field…”

Xavier’s eyes glowed for a moment and then Greninja, with Roa, left.

“I think it would have been good for him to form a character.” Admitted Vincent’s second teacher, “the kid is kind and bright, but also way too attached to his family, it wouldn’t be bad for him to learn to deal with others on his own.”

He thought for a moment and added, “Then again, he could have leveled the city if it wasn’t for you all, so I guess it was providence which brought you all together. A truly powerful show of that force known as luck. I doubt there could be someone luckier than you four.”

--

Elsewhere, a red cap wearing Pikachu sneezed quite loudly around his rather large family.

--

“I only hope we can have a bit of that luck and find the rest of our comrades, even I worry for their unknown circumstances.” Xavier looked at the Program Pokemon and asked, “If I were to make a petition, would you mind taking care of any of our comrades if you ever were to found them?”

“We already met a Queen, a Florges, named Titania in Canterlot. She was in the care of Seth Crescent and his family.” With a slight twinkle in his eye, the Porygon-Z turned to look at the Metagross. “So long as their first reaction to something new and strange is not ‘punch it,’ I think that can be arranged. Just arrange the auxiliary units like so,” Bit finished by pointing at the blueprint. “I’ll need a wire run between them and the main unit, after which I’ll have to weld a cover over them with enough space for a vent to run between it and the main unit here.”

“I know, she sent a message to all mail offices in the continent.” Replied Xavier as he did as instructed once more, placing both the cover and the wire with his mind. “She has never been one for subtlety. We will go and see her once we make our way back to Canterlot.”

“And I can’t promise my team will react another way, we do have to ‘punch first’ in order to survive.” Joked the shiny Pokemon.

Meanwhile Greninja and Roa returned with the piece Bit required.

“Charge Beam, Focused mode,” Bit said, taking up the welding role once more. “The only thing remaining once this is done is to run a cable from the generator in the next room over to the main and auxiliary units here, so that they have power.”

The program then fell silent as he contemplated what the Metagross had told him, before issuing a slight warning. “I do hope they know enough to not do it upon seeing our new residence. It has lasers now, ones that I control. And while they aren’t deadly, they also aren’t something that tickles upon getting hit with one. If they prove too unreasonable or violent…”

He let the sentence hang there as he focused again on his welding.

“Ooooohhhhh! So those ARE lasers!” commented Roa with slight fascination.

Xavier only chuckled, “And then you all will have a new hole in the wall. So be careful of how you deal with these guys, some are calm enough to understand, others... “ the silence the shiny Pokemon made was quite unsettling, “let’s just say the money of all the casinos won’t be enough for the repairs.”

Greninja only gave the tactician a blank look and sighed, he then looked at Bit and waited for further instructions.

Bit connected the final few cables and nodded, opening the main chamber of the main unit. He turned his disconnected head to Greninja and spoke. “Activate the generator.”

He then turned to Roa. “Monitor the units, make sure there’s no smoke or sparks.”

After which, he looked at Xavier. “Violence wouldn’t be our first recourse. But it seems to be a familiar language to the members of Checkmate. I merely thought to inform you of the lasers before one of your friends complained about being hit by one.”

Xavier simply smiled as Greninja and Roa did their part, or at least part of it.

“So I have to watch this… and stop it from turning into fire?” asked Roa with a doubtful voice.

“Power online,” Bit said, hearing the units kicking on. “Commencing with programming the units. One moment…”

Bit was silent for quite a while, before speaking up again. “Programming completed. Commencing with planned move to test the unit: Ice Beam, Focused mode.”

A beam of near solid blue light left the Porygon-Z’s ‘beak’ and impacted within the main unit. After which, he swung the door closed and nodded.

“Roa, the programming I set to the units should have the auxiliary units turn off if there is a detected source of cold air within the main unit. Tell me, do you hear them on at all?”

“... was?” asked the very confused Zoroark.

“He is asking if there is any sound coming from the thing you are looking at.” clarified Xavier.

“Oh, right…” a quick glance later, “is buzzing a bad thing?”

Bit shook his head and floated closer. “Interesting, it would appear as though this wire was slightly loose. A reason why the programming didn’t take. One moment.”

With a spark of electricity later, the wire was properly welded, and the unit stopped buzzing. “Excellent. Would you care to go upstairs and tell us if the air-conditioning is working?”

Without anyone noticing, a certain Ninja Pokemon had vanished from sight.

Xavier chuckled again as he added, “Greninja says is working just fine, and that he may stay up there for some minutes.”

“Excellent,” Bit proclaimed. “Then I declare the installation to be a success. All that remains is to install keypads in the apartments, so that the tenants may decide what temperature they desire and ‘order it up’, so to speak. Roa, if you would be so kind as to place one in every apartment, I will affix them to the walls and program them later.”

The Illusion Pokemon smiled, nodded, and then left with the pile of the keypads to place one in each apartment.

Xavier chuckled for a third time, a personal record. “I admit we are rather comfortable when visiting the Nurem family.” And then continued the work.

Moving from one pot to the next, Vincent idly checked the Berries. It was a distraction, really. He needed one, considering what his family had just volunteered him for. The other one took the form of the Sylveon who was practically salivating at the sight of the not-yet-ripe plants.

...You know it’ll be a few days before they’re ready, right?

Sylveon snapped out of his little trance and wiped some drool off his face. “Sorry about that, it’s just that it’s been so long in the harsh desert… it does wonders for a thing like hunger.”

“There, there dear. This is Vincent’s crop, you don’t want to be rude and ruin his hard work do you?” Added Valerie as she hovered besides them both.

“Very true my dear, so what should we do mister Vincent?” asked the Fairy-type as he did his best to not bite one of the Berries.

Well...mostly what I’ve done is look for a pony who knew what she was talking about regarding growing local plants, get a mess of pots, and stick a Berry in each one. Any advice beyond that is most certainly welcome. I mean, beyond the watering them bit. I’ve...never grown Berries before, so I’m kinda flying blind here…

The Kadabra rubbed the back of his head with one hand as he finished his statement, signaling his lack of knowledge to the others via his awkwardness.

“Well, I see the earth is okay. Quite a good choice I would add.” said Sylveon as he inspected what Vincent had so far. “Say, how do you plan to irrigate them?”

The Kadabra blinked and looked at a nearby watering can. Huh. Currently, we’re doing it manually...but if we intend to expand operations up here, we could probably use some sort of sprinkler system...maybe a greenhouse? Hadn’t thought of that…

Vincent absently stroked his mustache while muttering about how to best get a greenhouse on the roof.

“The sprinkler sounds like a great idea, but I wouldn’t recommend a greenhouse.” A long ribbon limb wiped out some sweat off his face as he said this. “Greenhouses are meant to keep crops warm in cold environments, I doubt such thing is needed here, although I do think a little roof over them would help. Too much sun can also be a bad thing.”

The Psychic blinked at the words of the Sylveon and looked at the roof in a new light. Yes...hadn’t thought of it like that. Hmm. A piece of shade...Ah! Idea! A piece of tinted glass, perhaps? No...what’s the word I’m looking for? Polarized? Bah...I want a piece of glass that can serve as a piece of shade for the Berries, but what I want, I don’t quite know the word for, and it irks me!

Vincent started to mutter again, this time conjuring up ideas every half-sentence before casting them aside.

“You mean filtered glass.” Corrected the Sylveon. “It’s good for shade, but also lets some sun rays to pass by. It’s the best thing you could get for a situation like this.”

“Well, I never expect you to be so knowledgeable regarding the how’s and do’s of a crop.” admitted Valerie with a smile.

“How else would I get those gorgeous Rosely berries?” replied her husband with his elegant tone, “I would definitely won’t get them from the market!”

Vincent turned to Sylveon and then, without even a moment’s hesitation, hugged him.

Ah! Thank you! And now that I know…

The Kadabra frowned as he considered, all while not letting go of the Eevolution.

...Drat. I doubt anyone stocks any such glass. Do you know how it’s made?

Sylveon didn't seem to mind sudden hug, in fact he returned it right away.

“I am afraid I do not know such, I would suggest asking the Pony folk if they know what such glass is. I wouldn’t doubt they already have it though, these creatures are quite impressive.”

“We are happy to see you enjoy your work mister Vincent.” Added Valerie with a smile of her own. “As the old proverb said: those who enjoy their job will not work a day of their lives.”

“I must admit her poetic side is quite cute.” Flirted the male fairy with a purring tone. “Don’t you agree mister Vincent?”

Hey, she’s your wife, not mine, Vincent said with a shrug. He then seemed to realize that he was in fact hugging another being that he didn’t seem to know all that well and gently set the Sylveon down before letting him go. The Kadabra coughed awkwardly, turning back to the pots with the Berries in them before replying to Valerie.

And it’s not that I enjoy my work...I’m merely thankful for anything that helps me get one step closer to my goal of making the ponies see that we can...and should, work together.

“Don’t worry, I am sure you will be doing things like this one day with your beloved lady of steel sooner or later.” Replied the eeveelution with a bit of obviousness.

Valerie seemed to focus on the last line Vincent had said.

“That is one honorable goal indeed. I wish I knew what to do in this new world myself.” She didn’t seem stressed by such thoughts though. “We are following Checkmate mostly because we have nothing else to do.”

“I am simply following my gorgeous mate.” Finished Sylveon with little to no shame.

Vincent smirked before turning back to the pair and winking. You didn’t hear this from me, understand? There’s a trainer up in Canterlot who’s going to try and bring back Pokemon Contests. His name’s Seth, and if he asks how you know, you could tell him I told you...but don’t go spreading the knowledge around just yet, it’s supposed to be secret for a while. If you’re hard up for things to do, I could think of worse places to be or worse people to be with.

“Well isn’t this some astounding news?” replied Valerie as she clapped her wings. “I hope I could join, but we would need Mawile to properly perform.”

“We can always try with you instead my dear.” Suggested her husband. “Mawile is cute in her own way, but you had nothing compared to her before coming here, so I don’t see why you shouldn’t give it a try as well.”

“Maybe because I don’t know how to actually perform dear?” Deadpanned back Valerie, although the tone was still quite joyful. “How about you mister Vincent? Will you participate?”

The Kadabra shook his head as he replied. Sadly, I think the refitting of this apartment building will take quite a bit of work and money. By the time it’s done, we probably won’t have nearly enough time for any of us to come up with a routine. Of course, Seth was also looking for more hands in the organizing of the contest…

Vincent let the bait dangle there. He hoped it wasn’t too obvious.

“He is looking for people to help organize the event?” Asked Valerie with even more dilated eyes, her husband didn’t seemed to be too behind on his enthusiasm as well.

“Does that mean we could help with things like lighting and stuff?” asked the eeveelution.

You’d have to check with him, Vincent said, a small bit of mischief evident in his eyes. But I can’t imagine organizing something on this scale is going to be easy at all. Play your cards right, and you’d probably end up helping him with this first Pokemon Contest in Equestria.

Hook...line....sinker.

“Oh, I hope we can make it in time… think we can convince Weiss?” inquired Valerie.

Sylveon did seem to lose some hope at the mere thought.

“Well, they ARE mercenaries, so I doubt they have contests in high regards. Not to mention this whole Tlalo-whatever doing Arceus know what.”

Crud, he was losing them! Think, Vincent, think!

I might be able to spare you enough for two train tickets there, the Kadabra said, summoning twenty Bits to his right hand in a neat stack. And...oh, this’ll be rich...when you get there and find Seth, he’s a Luxray by the way, and his family, find the one known as Rika and tell her that she can pay me back by agreeing to at least give you two a shot, if not a helping hand. She’ll know what I mean, especially if you mention a shopping trip.

“Oh is a lovely gesture on your part mister Vincent,” admitted Valerie, “But I would like to take a chance and bring Checkmate with us. They do deserve some new experiences in life don’t you agree?”

“I couldn’t have said it better my dear.” added her husband. “And I would also like to point out that we know about mister Seth’s current form. My lady was able to see him once, although she was unfortunate about properly meeting him.”

“We will have a proper moment for that dear, we will.” Valerie finished.

The Psychic shrugged as he looked over the Berry plants. Fair enough, but the offer remains in case they say no.

He then walked over to one of the pots and pulled the watering can over to him. Any other tips you could give me regarding caring for these? We’ve only so many Berries to spare…

“Well, you could get some compounds, like manure or fertilizer, to increase the growing of the berries. Other than that: just be sure to give them lots of love!” FInished the Sylveon as his ribbons made a heart shape over his head.

“And may I ask, mister Vincent, what do you plan to do with the berries once they are done?” asked Valerie with curiosity as she helped with the watering as well.

Grow more, the Kadabra answered simply. With the surplus, though...I’ll give some to whoever decides to return to the apartment building. With so many ways for Pokemon and ponies to contribute to the running of this building, I hope for both of them to come here.

Nodding once at nothing in particular as he lay out his reasoning, the Psychic cast an eye back to the pair of Fairy-types. You know, since you seem to know so much about this...if this thing with Seth or Checkmate doesn’t work out for you, I’m fairly certain I could try to get you a place here if you want one. As long as you help with the garden.

“We truly appreciate the offer mister Vincent.” Said Sylveon with a sincere smile.

“But I am afraid this… place,” added Valerie as she look around at Las Pegasus. “Is not exactly of our style. We used to live in Laverre City you see.”

“It’s a polar opposite to this one.” Explained Sylveon as he had understand how little Vincent seemed to know about the world, their world at least.

Ah. Nodding once, Vincent sighed. Ah well. It would have been nice to have someone who knew what they were doing helping us. Well, I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors, but for now, let us finish with these Berries.

“Don’t worry mister Vincent, I am sure you can find someone even more experienced on this than us.” Said Valerie with a cheerful tone.

“Definitely… although having a permanent supply of berries just for living here does sound tempting.” Finished Sylveon with an almost sad look.

Sam took a step forward and heard the sound of incoming stone. He glanced to the right and saw Lucy standing there with her eyes still closed. He then recalled that he was supposed to keep the stone atop his head and decided to do one thing. Trust his ‘little sister.’

Lucy’s head snapped towards the threatened Scizor, her paws raised. She put on a burst of Extreme Speed and was between the rock and the Bug-type in an instant. Bursts of aura flashed from her paws, stopping the rocks while only slightly cracking them.

She then opened her eyes, casting a glare at the ‘firing squad’. “You...do realize how stupid a move that was, right?”

“You do realize you failed don’t you?” asked Weiss back as he looked at the cracked stones.

“Helping you to stay calm would also be a good training.” Added Rouge.

“If that is even possible.” Taunted Simon

“Besides, we are doing this for your own good!” Cheerfully joked Pancha.

“Not to mention we aren’t aiming anywhere in particular. If your brother gets hit it would be because of two reasons, one,” he played with another rock in his hand. “He had bad luck, and two,” then said rock impacted the wall behind the siblings quite hard, “you didn’t do your part.”

“Any more questions?” asked Simon as the group took a firing stance once more.

“You just did a good thing though.” Char praised Sam, “trusting in your team is a good call, however it won’t count in my evaluation over you. If you want to pass this little test, and thus move forward to more physical training, you have to be able to dodge the stones without Lucy’s help.”

Sam blinked before smirking. “Oh? Mary’s been helping me quite a bit. If it’s me dodging you’re after…”

His wings started to beat as he ducked his head, before tossing it up quite sharply, sending the stone flying. After which, the Scizor started to duck and twirl around the incoming rocks. Some came quite close to hitting him, but he managed to get by, barely. Sam came to a stop at the other side, looking up at the incoming rock from the start, and positioned his head just right to catch it.

“How’s that?”

“Well, that is quite the feat.” Praised Char once more. “To use your wings for balance and propulsion is a very smart thing to do, now try to come back here on a zigzag pattern, and do not throw the pebble this time.”

Lucy frowned before thinking about how to pass this challenge effectively. An idea came to her, and she focused the aura inwards, towards bolstering her own systems. Perhaps by controlling it more directly, she’d be able to avoid cracking the stones. She started to crack them less and less before finding the ‘sweet spot’. Once she hit it, though, she started to get bored, and thought of a question to ask them.

“Yeah, I’ve got a question. When Vincent and you parted ways last time, he picked up more power than normal...and recently, he said something about a psychic seal? What is that all about?”

“You will have to ask Xavier himself. He doesn’t like to talk much about his own Psychic Seal that much, we are still quite surprised he taught such a thing to Vincent.”

As they noticed Lucy had caught on their regular throws, the group decided to increase the difficulty as they now were throwing the stones with enough strength to break them at the mere impact.

“Now stay sharp! We are merely starting too!” Commanded Simon.

Lucy and Sam exchanged a look and nodded, the unspoken communication coming through loud and clear. Sam’s wings kept beating, propelling him on the path his mentor had picked out, but he didn’t quite dodge the stones this time. In fact, when one was about to hit him, he only barely jerked out of the way before smashing it himself with one of his claws, in order to make Lucy’s job easier.

Lucy, on the other hand, focused both her Quick Attack and Extreme Speed into herself, increasing her reaction times. That still left her the problem of the stones cracking upon being hit by her, and it took her a moment to come up with a solution.

Namely, don’t hit them. Let them hit her.

Her body functioned as a shield for the wall as the rocks impacted her frame, sending slight shudders through it. She knew she could take it, but for how long, was the important question.

“Not bad.” Praised Char for a third time. “I think we can move to more direct actions now.”

The execution squad on their end didn’t seem as happy.

“Does that count?” asked Simon with confusion.

“I think it does, although I would dare to say is not exactly what we expected.” Added Rouge.

“I would dare to say she found a plot hole in our idea. It’s not entirely a bad move, but is definitely dangerous in the long run. Especially if they were burning rocks instead. But we don’t have Burton to help us this time so we have to give her a slide and move on to the next subject, agreed?” He raised a hand.

The rest did the same, although not happily.

“Good, now to more direct stuff.” Said Weiss as he let the stones he had left fall. “Next subject, combat simulation.”

Sam tilted his head slightly and let the stone fall to the ground while rotating all his joints. Lucy hopped from behind a stone and landed next to him, doing similar warm-up exercises.

“You should know,” Sam started. “While we’ve recovered a fair bit from our time, that phrase still has a negative connotation with us.”

“One thing I learned from my time in the simulator,” Lucy said while raising one foot, “Is to get in the first shot. Another was Earthquake!”

She slammed it back into the ground, causing the nearby scenery to rumble as the attack took form.

“Then I presume we will have little problems with the next exercises.” Char said as he used a different word, but added. “Yet I would greatly suggest you try to get over those triggers. I understand that remembering the past is important. But being tied down to it is just dangerous.” And with nothing else to add, the Red Comet left the place, as he would like to have his training with Sam at a different place. “No offence miss Lucy, but I doubt we want to get into each other’s training from now on.”

Sam quickly followed after Char, hoping to avoid the fight to come, along with any of the fallout.

On Weiss' side, the Earthquake was a move they didn’t expect Lucy to make so casually. Luckily it wasn’t strong enough for Simon to feel it, yet Weiss did fall to the ground.

“A little warning next time!” shouted the former human from the ground. “Next phase, you versus Pancha!” He commanded.

Needless to say, the Wrestling Pokemon was pumped up. “Alright, time for some action!”

“Wait!” said Weiss as he stand up, dusting himself off. “The point will be giving Pancha a single but direct hit. That is all.” He then turned to the Flying/fighting-type and added, “You can’t hit her, but you can counter and dodge, got it?”

The news seemed to be a bit disappointing for Pancha, but she cheered up soon enough. “Okay then, this still looks promising!” And so she waited for Lucy to attack.

Lucy closed her eyes, the organs on the back of her head lighting up. “A Lucario taught me how to read the Aura, you know. Landing a hit is going to be a fun exercise for me, if short.”

Lucy was in Pancha’s face in seconds, a paw drawn back for a Force Palm.

Pancha didn’t stop smiling as she merely twirled around Lucy’s palm in a fashion to make her seem to be dancing instead of having dodged a move.

“Knowing where everything is, is one thing.” Said Weiss from his end as he looked for a place to seat at. “reacting to all is another.” He finally found a spot and sat comfortable as he made sure no debris would fall on him. “And hitting a member of Bishop is a whole different level.” He finished.

“Have any fours?” asked Simon as he and Rouge decided to pass their time with some cards.

“Go swimming.”

Lucy smirked in kind and swept out her right foot in a Low Sweep towards the Hawlucha. “This is more Vincent or Bit’s field, but the Aura helps fill in gaps by telling me what you intend to do. They’d be able to see two or three steps ahead, but one is more than enough for me.”

“That is not bad reasoning,” acknowledged Weiss, “but that would mean Pancha knows what she is going to do next.”

As to prove his point, Pancha seemed to be happily moving around at her own mental beat as she avoided Lucy’s flurry of attacks, even when many of them grasped on her feathers, none made direct contact. Lucy seemed to grow weary of the mercenary’s antics as she charged an Aura Sphere on one paw and used it as a boxing glove against the Hawlucha, hoping the special ability on the attack would secure a hit.

The sphere was doing its job as Lucy’s fist followed her erratic movement and was about to made a direct impact when the female Pokemon twirled again, sweeping one of Lucy’s feet and making her fall on her stomach, the Aura Sphere ‘cushioning’ the fall wasn’t precisely a good thing either as the resulting detonation proved.

Outside, the Scizors winced at the sound of an explosion coming from within. “Seems they have started.” Pointed out Char.

“Yeah, little sis was never one for half-measures. I think they had to repair the room half-a-dozen times because she punched or kicked too hard.” Sam flexed his wings and kept rotating his joints, waiting for the instruction to begin.

“Okay, I think you have stretched long enough.” Joked Char as he could see the apprehension building up on his fellow Scizor’s face at each explosion coming from the warehouse. “But don’t worry, I won’t be as drastic as my comrades.”

The Claw Pokemon snapped his neck a couple of times as he thought what to start with.

“Mhm… you already know how to use your wings for balance and propulsion, so I guess we can speed things up, and you also show potential, so I would give you the training Lala went through.”

The veteran gave Sam an inquisitive look as he grinned and asked. “Think you will be able to handle it?”

Sam gulped, but gave a hesitant nod. “I’m willing to let a Sandslash with claws that haven’t met their match train me in being nimble, if only to avoid having my armor scratched by said claws. I think I can handle this...and if not, I’ll let you know if it becomes too much.”

“That is the spirit.” Said Char with the utmost care as he placed a claw with absolute care over Sam’s shoulder. The he said a single word. “Dodge.” At this point, his other claw had become a blur.

Upon hearing that word, Sam instinctively ducked his head and stepped back from his fellow Scizor. “Not you too! Did you and Mary go to the same dojo or something?!”

“Then I have to meet this Mary at least once.” Char calmly said as he lifted his claw from the ground, a massive hole having been left in the concrete by it. “She seems to be quite knowledgeable about training regimes.”

And he appeared before Sam as a Bullet Punch glowed on both of his claws. Again, a single line was said.

“Dodge!”

Sam kept leaning back, seeing each claw as it was rocketing towards him and taking measured steps back, not wanting to use up all of his space. “Pancha might like her, the two seem like kindred spirits. Now when are the real attacks going to happen? I haven’t even had to touch Agility yet!”

“That sounds dangerous.” Calmly said Char as he keep throwing his claws around Sam’s body, he didn’t seemed to be that focused on making impact, unlike his comrade. “I bet she can become quite frightening as well then.” As he said this, the bolley of Bullet Punches stopped while the mercenary twirled on one of his legs, now giving Sam a simple but clean kick right on the chest. “And I think I told you to dodge!”

Sam wheezed a little as Char made contact. “Fine. Agility it is, then!” The altered Scizor’s form blurred slightly, and the mentor suddenly had a slightly harder task on his claws.

“It’s a good speed, I give you that.” Admitted Char, but then he brought his own Agility burst to bear, following Sam a step ahead of each of his own movements. And even when he was no longer attacking him, his mere presence behind him was enough to preach his teaching.

Sam gulped as he kept feeling his mentor’s presence nearby. “Oh yeah. Y’know, funny thing, usually when I pull this with Mary, it’s enough to get her to stop...don’t suppose you’d be as obliging?”

“I’d like to remind you she was teaching you how to move, I am teaching you how to survive.” Said calmly Char, then the warehouse came down. “And I think that is our cue to leave this here, we will continue this another time.” And with nothing else to say both Scizors dashed at the rubble.

Lucy groaned as the impact from her own attack hit her, before turning to look at the still standing and slightly smirking Pancha. She blinked as an idea occurred to her, seeing another loophole. The Lucario parted her jaws slightly, causing a slight glow to build up in her mouth.

“Lucy? You okay?”

The female Lucario just smiled wider and let loose the Dragon Pulse directly at the flying/fighting type.

Pancha took the attack head on as she blinked a few times to remove the soot from her eyes while she coughed a small cloud.

“I’m afraid that doesn’t count… but it was nice thinking.” Weiss admitted while Pancha looked at the afro which appeared over her head.

“Hey, me gusta!” she admitted.

“Technically,” Lucy said as she pulled herself up, “You said I had to hit her. You never said how. Oh how I wish Heal Pulse could work on me.”

“And they are at it too.” Noticed Simon as another explosion could be heard.

“I said hit her directly, as with your fists, special attacks won’t count!” clarified Weiss.

“Come on, this is fun Lucy: si se puede, si se puede!” Cheered Lucy’s opponent.

Lucy growled slightly as her minor victory was snatched from her. “Fine...give me a second to recover...and I can go again. I either hit my target quickly, or I get tired. Denser bones and all.”

“We have some time,” said Weiss carefreely.

“Ehm… no we don’t,” said Simon. “Remember the whole Tlaloque stuff?”

“Oh, right, ehm… Pancha you can attack now!” He added.

“Okay!” happily replied the Hawlucha, only to turn to look at Lucy with a slightly more sinister look in her eyes. “I am sorry mi’ja, but this will hurt!” The sound of knuckles being cracked made her sentence all the more scary.

Lucy’s eyes widened at the sound of the Hawlucha getting ready to hit her, and she drew on her training sessions with Maylene and her partner. “Oh this is going to be interesting.”

The Lucario’s form glowed a slight blue as the organs on the back of her head started to blaze. “It’ll only hurt if you can catch me, and I have no intention of going slow!”

Once again combining both Extreme Speed and Quick Attack, Lucy seemed to teleport while leaving a glowing blue afterimage behind.

As soon Lucy seemed to teleport, Pancha kept her stance as if nothing had happened, calmly looking at the vanishing after image, until suddenly she turned and raised a claw, grabbing a still speeding Lucy by the snout.

“Who said I needed you to be slow?” she asked as she then proceeded to slam Lucy on the ground with enough force to cause a new, but weaker, Earthquake. A cloud of dust followed right after. Then the dust dissipated to reveal Pancha was no longer around, but she made sure to show where she was as she shouted.

“Flying Press!”

Lucy looked up to see the incoming Pancha, and her session with the rocks flashed into her head.

Don’t try to hit the rocks, let them hit you.

Assuming the rule was still ‘Hit Pancha directly,’ she could use this. She could very much use this. Just when she knew the Hawlucha couldn’t pull out of the attack, Lucy put on a penultimate burst of speed to dodge out of the way. She was saving the last dregs of her energy for a final, cheeky move.

The Lucario pulled herself up and turned to face Pancha again, one paw raised. “Well?” She said while curling it a few times, the universal signal for ‘bring it.’

“Not bad.” Said Simon over his Battleship board.

“She is still alive, that is indeed a reason worth praising.” Complimented Rouge. “H-5”

“ARCEUS FLIPPING DAMN IT!” shouted Simon.

“But this may soon end.” Added Weiss.

“Very well then, because you asked for it, here comes my ultimate move!” Ass she said this, light began to gather behind her. “Ssssssssssssskkkkyyyyyy…!”

“And this is over.” Said Weiss calmly as he stand back up, as he could almost predict what would happen next.

Lucy merely smirked, having already prepared her move. Or rather, prepared the stage. She was standing in front of one of the support beams for the roof. The roof that Bit had damaged. All it would take is an ‘ultimate move’...and Pancha was providing.

“Again, not a bad idea.” Said Weiss as he looked at Lucy’s plan: wanting for Pancha to hit the pillar and then get the roof to restrain her. “But...!”

Then it all ended.

“Attack.” Came Pancha’s cheerful voice, but not from where she was, but right behind Lucy and the pillar.

“Pancha may not be the fastest of the team, but she sure is the stronger Bishop.”

With seconds of delay, Lucy could feel the impact of the Sky Attack as it make her collide and blow the pillar to smithereens, gravity didn’t take long to play its part as well.

“Simon!” Weiss shouted before the roof hit the ground, which it did in less than a few seconds with a very sonorous crash.

“And here I was hoping she would hold herself back a little.” Said Rouge as she and Weiss walked out the dust caused by the sudden demolition.

“Pancha, show some restraint?” asked Weiss with incredulity. “Is that even possible?”

“Hey! Showing restrain is far more difficult that you think.” Defended the also not so good at restraining Simon as he came out of the ground with Lucy.

“That was so awesome!” Exclaimed Pancha with little to no concern.

Lucy growled and struggled free of Simon’s grasp before walking up to Pancha and cuffing her upside the head. “You ruined my plan completely! My bones are dense, you know this, and you still threw me into the pillar! I had been counting on you hitting it, which would have only made it crack and slowly break! Throwing me into it made it happen far faster!”

Sam raised a claw and opened his mouth before seeming to reconsider and lower it while shaking his head. “Nope. Not asking. I know better.”

“You are welcome.” Sarcastically said Simon.

“Hey! Is not my fault that thing was so freaking weak!” Said Pancha on her defense, not seeming to mind one bit about her current hold.

“You sure learn fast boy.” Said Char with a chuckle as he too keep his mind away of whatever happened.

“We have caused enough… redecoration for one training season.” Said Weiss, “How about we continue this another time?”

“Assuming you’re still here,” Sam said. “Lucy, what were you thinking?”

The Lucario growled again. “I was trying to get her to hit the pillar, so only a small section of the roof would fall in and restrain her, so I could...land...a hit…”

Lucy blinked and held her paw up to eye level, the same paw she had just used to cuff Pancha, before grinning wildly. “Oh. Oh tell me I did not just complete your little challenge Weiss.”

“Well I be damned!” Said Simon with surprise.

“We never did said the match was over…” Weiss seemed to think for a minute before saying, “You pass kid.”

“Congratulations!” Applauded Pancha, still under Lucy’s paw.

“Dear, you do realize you just took a building down with her, right?” Asked Rouge with disbelief. “As in you literally use her to hit the main pillar down!?”

“Ah, little details. I give my all and yet she come through it, I say this niña deserves my recognition!” Retorted Pancha.

“And she is still alive too so, that is a plus right there.” Added Char.

“I’d suggest leaving the building out of the retelling when you inform Vincent as to what we’ve been up to,” Sam said.

Lucy nodded in agreement, before realizing the lateness of the hour. “Hey, didn’t some of you have a plan for him tonight?”

“Oh yeah!” Said Simon with a very slow pronunciation.

“I think he will find out eventually, but I don’t see why we should be the ones telling him.” Weiss shrugged their concerns off as they began to walk away, some of the remnants of what once was a warehouse still falling apart.

“So with the boys out, tonight…” Began Rouge, only for Pancha to catch on her line of thought and finish her sentence.

“IS A GIRLS NIGHT!”

Lucy blinked a few times, the concept not something she was familiar with. “Um?”

Sam just laughed. “Oh boy. I can already see me talking to Ace about the destruction these two separate groups are going to wreak. ‘No officer, what Vincent was doing was completely unrelated to what Lucy was doing.’”

“Sounds like any of our group vacations.” Coolly said Weiss.

“And who is this Ace?” asked Simon with curiosity. “She sounds quite important.”

“Oh you know, only the local captain of the guard around here,” Sam said. “She and her husband trade off the day and night shifts. And she may or may not be holding a grudge against us for those things we told you about earlier in Manehatten.”

“Oh! The royal guard.” Said Weiss with fake respect. “Yet another one we must definitely not cross paths with.”

“Don’t worry dear, we won’t be having such a night as the ones this ruffians will be having.” Said Rouge in a protective manner.

“We are going to get this town so hammered!” Exclaimed Pancha.

“Ehm, I did said the ruffians will be the ones doing the havoc didn’t I?” added the Poison-type.

Lucy smiled weakly and nodded, already trying to determine if she could put on another burst of speed and whether it would be enough to get away from this madness. “Sounds...fun,” she tersely said.

“Don’t worry dear, she had some exercise today, she won’t be as lively.” Asure Rouge to Lucy.

“So who is up for some Tequila!” Shouted Pancha, which made her friend facebouquet.

Sam laughed and shook his head. “Well I hope you all have fun and take care while you educate those two. I’ll not be joining you. Someone needs to be sober and look after the apartment building, and if you intend to intoxicate the younger kids, then that duty will fall to me.”

Lucy gulped at the thought of being forcibly introduced to alcohol. “Traitor,” she hissed.

Weiss laughed at Lucy’s words. “Welcome to the betrayed crowd, how does it feel?” he asked with sarcasm.

And so they left the rubble behind.

They arrived at the apartment house to leave Sam there, as they also find out that Daring had been diligent on her own mission, and now had a couple of boxes with many different liquors.

“Let’s see…” Said the leader as he inspected the contents. “We have scotch, whiskey, rum, tequila,” the bottle was tossed to Pancha who greedily grabbed it, “cider, eggnog, some colas, and mineral water.”

“I would say we are ready to go.” Concluded Simon with a happy grin.

“I would suggest we also bring some snacks,” said Gold.

“That is actually a good idea… wait, you are coming too?” asked Weiss.

“Well, I helped with this selection, so I think I deserve to be part of this hangover as well.” He said as he kept a bottle of ginebra in his hands.

Sam merely waved at the two parties as they took the youngsters out of the apartment. “Take care, and try not to kill them by alcohol poisoning. I’ll want them back by morning.”

Bit came down after having finished installing the last keypad and beeping. “Building is wired, and the ponies that Vincent asked for are in the basement modifying the heater. Once this is done, all that will remain will be the water tank on the roof to obtain, as well as the piping to hook it into existing systems, and the building will be ready for occupation once more.”

Vincent perked up at that and turned to look at the program. Ah, wait, add a thing to that list. Filtered glass for the roof, to serve as shade for the Berries, and enough supplies to hold it up above them.

The Porygon-Z dinged after a moment. “Added to the ‘to-do list’. I will see about obtaining these things tomorrow, assuming nothing else comes up.”

Lucy looked at Pancha and Rogue before whimpering. “Uh...you will be careful with us, right?”

“Don’t worry dear.” Said Valerie as she flew besides Lucy, a reassuring smile on her lips. “I will be there to be sure you keep to a good and moderated limit.”

“Same goes from me.” Said Valerie’s husband as he stood beside Vincent.

“You guys didn’t think we would be sitting this one out, did you?” Asked Daring as she too sat beside Lucy, Roa whimpering behind them all.

“I-if is okay with you of course…”

“What about you two?” Said Weiss to Xavier and Greninja.

“I am immune to such things like alcohol, so I think my presence in this evening of yours will be pointless. However, I will keep a mind link so I can assist you in case Vincent proves to be unable to keep his alcohol.” Was the rather short reply the Metagross give.

Greninja on his end just give a negative wave of his head as he simple stayed close to Bit, as if saying we would prefer to help the program.

“Okay then, I presume Edge will be going with you girls as well.”

On cue, Edge perched herself by a window, a party hat already adorning her head. “Where do we go first?”

Vincent and Lucy blinked, hell, Bit blinked at the sight of a party hat atop the Noivern’s head that actually fit her. Bit then turned and started to go downstairs while muttering something that sounded like ‘nope’ over and over again.

Sam just chuckled at the sight and waved one claw at the assembled ‘mon. “G’on, get outta here you lot. And make sure you don’t break anything that you can’t afford to replace.”

Greninja seemed to smile as he went down after Bit.

The group let out a collective ‘Allright’ which varied depending on each individual, some were eager, others afraid, but most of them were happy. Happy to know that even after such a dimensional change, both groups who once lived on the dark side of the world, were now enjoying each other’s companies.

“And I don't promise to not break something!” Shouted Simon at the end as both parties left the apartment

The boys took the closest road which would lead them to the desert, asking Vincent to use a ping to know any good spot to get wasted without wasting the city, but also without being a waste of their night.

The girls on the other hand left towards the lively city, the lights already inviting them to do all sort of things.

Author's Notes:

Two of four. Oh dear. This does not bode well at all for some beings.